Here's why Apple won't let YOU upgrade a Mac Studio [Part 2]

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Yesterday I tried to upgrade a Mac Studio, and today we're back with yet another attempt and a thorough explanation of why Apple will not allow you to upgrade your $5,000 Mac Studio. Hopefully this video answers some of the questions we've had about what can be done in terms of upgrades and what can't, why apple prevents this from happening, and what we can hope to see in the future

Time stamps
0:00 Intro
2:47 A new experiment
8:00 Why the Mac Studio cannot be upgraded

Gear:
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[TillmanTech]

Great investigation. It’s always fun to be curious and go on a quest, but I am amazed at your ability to tolerate frustration and dead ends. Great job 👏

[chloefletcher]

As Linus from LTT says: a team of people engineered this to be worse. People spent part of their actual lives to make sure this product was worse for consumers.

[MrCed]

In their last WAN Show, LTT (Linus in particular) said that the "SSD" being only flash memory and the logic being done directly on the logic board was an option and called it the "worst case scenario" because that means it's essentially impossible to upgrade or replace. Unfortunately, he was right on that one.

[BryantAvant]

They did this in response to the failing nand on MacBooks that have the ssd soldered. Now they can charge you to replace failed/worn out nand but try to get you to buy more storage up front.

[insert]

The controllers under the SSD are for the TypeC Connectors, thats why they are different on the M1 Max (USB-C 10 Gb/s) vs the Ultra version (Thunderbolt 40 Gb/s), different negotiation protocols and power delivery, even if the Thunderbolt is compatible with the USB-C protocols.

[MattTalkTech]

I have to put my hat off to you Luke for trying though and I think everyone should as well.👏👏👏
It will be interesting to see what the Mac Pro has to offer in a few months time with ‘upgradable’ parts if any…

[namannik]

The reason the storage modules use slots instead of being soldered to the board is likely not for upgradability or repairability, but for manufacturability. These slots surely simplify the process of manufacturing different Mac Studio models configured with different storage options.

[SpencerLupul]

my take: apple wanted to stick with their new ‘mantra’ of repairability, in the narrowest sense. Since the studio is marketed towards professionals, (who rely a lot on the device) they thought about hard drive failure as a common pain point. Therefore, build storage modules as repairable without an entire logic board swap, that way turnaround times (stocking little modules instead of logic boards in-store) and ease of the repair (in your words, 4 minutes) are reduced, increasing the customer satisfaction. What they don’t mean by repairability, which is what we all really want from them, is modularity. Simply put, if you want a modular apple product, no problem… starting price is the Mac Pro.

[kdw]

I own a small print firm that has had Macs since the 80s. The lack of upgrade ability is very disturbing. When you can't even replace an SSD or RAM, the machine is basically disposable. I love OSX, but this is my line in the sand. We have been slowly moving our 5 design machines over to Windows.

[artoutlawphoto]

Like Linus said, it would have been very complicated to make multiple models of Mac studio with different types of chips and different types of storage, so the "ssd" are modular because it benefits apple, but when it doesn't benefits Apple they stop being reasonable (in this case providing end user the opportunity to change the ssd). For young generation in couple of years this practice by tech companies will become a normality. Even car companies (witch in the past where more flexible for repair) have resume to the same practice. It's a shame I truly belive that a tech company like Apple has the power to change how a company should and can work in an era that everything its disposable, this mambo jambo that Apple cares about environment its absolut crap.

[JDFloyd]

Two thoughts come to my mind: 1) this issue will be fixed with a future firmware update, but 2) it will not happen until the M-series Mac Pro has been out for a while. I think this is to ensure sales of the Mac Pro as the "...upgradeable product..." much like the 2019 Mac Pro when it comes to the proprietary boot SSD.

[timsbird]

As they said on LTT I think the removable storage is to help Apples supply lines. They could easily allow people to change it - as you said - it's a middle finger.

[mrclean]

Luke, what about the second slot? Same procedure, leaving original storage module in original slot and adding the 1Tb storage module in the second slot and repeating procedure?

[dominikletica]

I'm using Apple Configurator 2 for work on a daily basis and I'd try to click on restore (not revive) while in DFU mode, to restore your M1 Max Mac Studio and get it working again. Done this several times for firmware-bricked iPhones and M1 MacBooks. It's worth a try, when recovery mode isn't usable. 

Sadly I have to confirm, what the Genius Bar employee told you: After performing a repair (replacing the logic board or the storage module), the technician has to run a tool named "System Configuration" within Apple's diagnostic console which rewrites and updates the device's firmware-databases to handle the just replaced components. In theory it should be possible to teach the device's firmware how to handle storage modules with a different size - sadly there's no option for that within Apples diagnostic console nor within Apples repair frontend. You're only able to select the parts used, enter the related serial numbers and let the tool do the magic. It's the same tool used for newer iPhones to pair new displays, batteries, face-id sensors, cameras or whole rear systems. You're only able to select replacement parts for your device's specific configuration. With right to repair moving forward, Apple someday would have to grant end-users access to these tools - maybe in a simplified version, so that customers can perform e.g. display repairs on an iPhone without loosing functionality such as face-id. Let's hope that Apple will be greedy enough to sell storage upgrade kits for Mac Studio in the future :-D As said before: It should be possible, it's just not intended by Apple at the moment. But it's still a good sign for the longevity of the Mac Studio, that Apple decided to design it with repairability in mind (replaceable storage - or keepable storage in case of logic board replacements).

greetings from Germany ;-)

[woodenhatrecords]

You're the best, Luke! Thank you for going to such great lengths to provide information on the inner workings and (unfortunately non-existent) upgrade possibilities of the Mac Studio. Thank you for not accepting free review units (like other YouTubers who predictably suck up to the manufacturer), but instead put your own money on the line and hold the manufacturer accountable.

[YashAtishay]

It is infuriating that Apple understands the importance of removable storage when it comes to reducing their production cost and streamlining their production progress but they are unable to understand it when it comes to keeping the computer out of the landfill. For a company that removes chargers from the box to save the planet and install solar panels on the roof of their office and makes a big deal about it, this is stupid. As an Apple sheep, I am infuriated

[justinsurpless]

Completely agree with you on this! I probably wouldn't ever upgrade (I ordered the 2TB) but very disappointing at the steps Apple has taken to prevent any upgrade.

[pixelpatter]

I've been awaiting this computer to replace my 2009 MacPro that has been CPU and firmware updated, but now I'm having second thoughts about buying a new Mac. I don't say this easily as I bought my first AppleII+ in 1979. Thank you for doing this Luke.

[marctech]

Just to clarify why Apple went with removable storage modules and not soldered storage. It’s to reduce the logistical complexity of building a pretty niche device. On the MacBooks there are dozens of configurations when you consider the combinations of differently binned SoCs, RAM and storage. But that is still viable because MacBooks sell in the hundreds of thousands and even millions. A product like the Mac Studio will sell far less and if every storage tier needed to be its own separately configured/ build logic board it would even further increase costs. That’s why they gave it two slots to accommodate for all possible storage configs without impacting SoC and RAM choices.

[bighill]

Update: The Mac Studio requires an IPSW restore after changing its SSD modules to ensure that they are readable and able to boot. Running a Device Firmware Update (DFU) restore using the macOS IPSW package for the ‌Mac Studio‌ should enable the machine to boot from a different SSD, providing that both of the modules are of the same size and make, meaning that storage upgrades still appear to be feasible.